


Springtime in the Park

by hannahrhen



Series: Frostiron Fluff [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Drabble, Fluff, M/M, Schmoop, Spring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-15
Updated: 2013-05-15
Packaged: 2017-12-11 23:31:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/804508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahrhen/pseuds/hannahrhen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a perfect afternoon, Tony has a question answered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Springtime in the Park

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes, you just want to write unapologetic schmoop. So, here you go.

Iron Man waited until all the SHIELD agents had cleared out and the Avengers occupied to sit his ass down.

It was a quiet corner of the park, crossed through with bike paths and sidewalks, next to a koi pond lined with stone. He found the large cement bench hard to resist—what could he say? His bones were fucking tired. He popped off his helmet, felt the warm breeze on his face. Tiny tufts of white spun through the air, springtime offerings from trees and dandelions, illuminated one after another by the sun’s rays.

The attack that day had been perfunctory at best, Tony reflected. It was the emerging pattern of the last few months, obvious enough that Tony suspected— _knew_ why, but only Widow and Thor were beginning to puzzle it out. The disturbance had scared off all the park’s occupants, called in the Avengers from Manhattan, and made a bit of a mess, but nothing that couldn’t be cleaned up with an afternoon’s work.

Iron Man had done a fair amount of said work. Now Thor, Cap, and the others were removing large, felled trees and righting lamp-posts and vendor carts, mercifully out of sight for the time being. They’d return to Manhattan soon enough. But right now, the late-afternoon sun was warm, the fish were—well, still alive, which was a bonus, a swirling tangle of orange and ivory, and, damn it, it was nice here.

He glanced over at the untouched cart of a flower and balloon vendor, propped up on a small hill. The flower assortments were gorgeous—mostly tulips in candy colors. They seemed like kind of niche items to be selling in a mid-sized park in a mid-sized city, but it was late spring, and people’s grips on their cash were loosened by what some would call love, and others—very cynical others, or _one_ cynical other in particular—would dismissively call sentiment.

Tony inhaled, smelled the sweet air, pungent pond water, and warmth of the earth. Pretty soon the all-clear would be sounded, the man or woman who ran the cart would return, and life in this corner of the U-S-of-A would return to normal.

Tony’s life would return to the status quo.

He didn’t turn his head when a shadow appeared on the sidewalk in front of him, its owner taking up the spot Tony had left open on the seat. He didn’t look, no, but he may have ducked his head for a moment—smiled, just a bit.

They remained silent for a few moments. Tony heard the clinks and creaks of armor, leather—knew the bench’s other occupant was surveying the park just as he had. Probably finding it lacking in some way, but—

“It’s lovely here,” Loki said finally. _Huh._ And then, “ … Much better without all the people.”

Tony chuckled in spite of himself. “Was that your play then? Clear out the park and have a nice afternoon to yourself?”

When he got no immediate response, Tony looked over. Loki’s helmet was off, too, propped on the far side of the bench, gold horns glinting flawlessly in the afternoon light.

Loki didn’t return his gaze or answer the question. Asked gently, instead, “Are you injured?”

Tony’s heart thumped harder for a few beats, but he kept his expression unchanged. “No, just being lazy.” Tony stretched out his legs for effect, looked back at the water. Still mostly wearing the suit, he wasn’t exactly comfortable, but there wasn’t really time to strip down and lie on the grass like an undergrad, knees propped up to the sky and palms under his head. Making shapes of the clouds and speculating on the future while ants tickled the back of his neck.

He heard a snort. “That word could hardly be used to describe you, Stark.”

“No,” he conceded. “It’s a nice day, though.”

“That it is.” A brief silence. “I thought you would enjoy it.”

Then Tony did look, studied Loki’s neutral profile. “You—” Then he just … let it go. No one hurt, minimal damage, relatively-speaking. This was not exactly the behavior Tony should encourage, but … It was the fallout for whatever they were doing. For whatever he was letting Loki do.

“I need to get back,” Tony said finally. “If Cap busts me sunbathing, I won’t hear the end of—” He reconsidered. “Well. No. He’ll just look at me in that way that makes me feel like shit. That’s bad enough.”

He got a smirk in reply to his offer of a confidence, a little twitch in the corner of Loki’s mouth, and finally the other turned his head. “Until next time, then.”

Tony wondered when that would be, when their meetings would be more than—or less than—Loki scheming, creating destruction just to create an excuse. If that was even what was going on here.

 _God._ Tony—Iron Man—should say something, should spell out what’s okay, what’s not. _What’s next._ He drew his eyes from Loki’s, took a breath to speak, but … when he looked back, Loki was gone.

In his place: a bundle of flowers wrapped in green tissue paper—tulips in a dozen candy colors.

Tony’s eyebrows shot up, and, yeah, he laughed.

_Oh._

Just … _oh._

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell the weather's been nice here?
> 
>  **Now has a sequel** : [Reciprocated](http://archiveofourown.org/works/634946/chapters/2029007), part of the Prompted fills-and-drabbles series.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr at [hannahrhen.tumblr.com](http://hannahrhen.tumblr.com).


End file.
